Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we will be doing. There are funds that have been identified as part of a child and family resource centre that we’re fully aware of. Not only that but there’s also a public awareness of the overall importance of early childhood development throughout the Northwest Territories. We’ve allocated some funds towards that as well. There are also iPads for new parents. There is the early learning framework. The framework that we’ve been working on for a number of years now, now it’s ready to roll out. Also, the ECD symposium. It would involve all the stakeholders...

Yes, the quickest answer will be most certainly. There will be some things that will happen within the three-year timespan starting immediately. We’ve touched base on improving academic achievement of all Northwest Territories students, increased the number and quality of NWT graduates – that’s what the Member is referring to – improved literacy and numeracy skills of all students, helped prepare them for employment, as well, or further their education after high school.

Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the areas that we’ve tackled. We’ll continue to work with the First Nations, the...

As the Member knows, within our GNWT department there are various areas of subsidies that individuals can qualify for, whether it be training on the job or productive choices, those are some of the areas that we have provided over the years. Again, when we talk about income security as a basic needs subsidy programming, those that are in desperate need of subsidizing in a community, we found that over the years and have made some changes in 2007 and 2011 and we will continue to make those changes. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, a RESP or disability insurance, child disability benefits and CBS, they’re all exempt from the child tax benefits through our income security programming. RRSP is considered as funding that could be available.

We have to be fair because we are dealing with public money, and we’re dealing with the communities, 33 communities, and when an individual has a surplus of funding through an RRSP and an individual in small communities do not have any. So, as a department head, Minister responsible for Income Security Program, I have to focus in those areas. It’s public funding...

Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the areas that we have initiated as a department. We have considered those areas for our students as well. As Minister Miltenberger has indicated, we have met with various students in Ottawa. That’s a starting point for us. We want to track those students to come back to the North and create employment for them here in the Northwest Territories. This is a really good starting point as an increase in minimum wage from $10 to $12.50 an hour on June 1st. That is a really good news item. We have shared that with the students, as well, and they are quite happy...

Those are just some of the areas that we did seriously look at, as well, whether it be small business or big business. But at the same time, I did make a statement that most of the organizations pay well beyond $10 an hour and there’s just a small number that’s still paying $10 an hour. So those are areas that we explored. We did our research. We have worked with businesses as well. We had the Chamber of Commerce, both NWT and Yellowknife, so that covers the broad sector of organizations. We want to make sure we cover all areas, which we have done. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise Members of this House that starting on June 1, 2015, the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories is going up.

The minimum wage in the NWT will increase from $10 per hour to $12.50 per hour, making it the highest in Canada today. This is the first increase to the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories since 2011.

In 2013 I appointed a Minimum Wage Committee consisting of business, non-governmental organizations and other community representatives, which included the NWT Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Territories Federation of Labour.

This decision to...

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, we must be fair and equitable when we are delivering the Income Security Program. As I stated before, when an individual has an RRSP, it could be a substantial amount, we don’t know the actual number, but we could use, let’s say, a figure of $200,000 to $250,000, for example. If the individual has that compared to other small community members who do not have any of that, we just have to be fair to these individual clientele. Having individuals receiving $1,200 from a small community that does not have anything versus an individual that may have RRSP of the same...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we did a comprehensive review back in 2004-06, based on the feedback that we received, we made some drastic changes in 2007. As I stated, there were some changes along the way, as well, with our income security programing in 2011.

We are always open to make changes as necessary, as long as it benefits the community and also the clientele. Those are some of the areas that we’ll continue to push forward within our department of income security programming. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, we have looked at those potential impacts, and the research is telling us that there is minimal impact in those areas.

Again, most of the businesses are paying well beyond $10 an hour. When we did our research, $12 to $15 per hour is the starting point for these businesses. We have talked to a lot of businesses and they have already told us, a lot of them, that they are way beyond $10 per hour. Mahsi.